Chapter 100: Chickens and Rabbits in the Same Cage

You must know, nowadays a warhorse costs at the very least twenty taels of silver, no matter how you look at it.

Two thousand warhorses, that is forty thousand taels of white silver.

The one thousand plus mu of fertile land bestowed upon Zhu Gaoxu was worth nearly ten thousand taels of silver.

Now that Zhu Gaoxu has opened his mouth to ask for another two thousand warhorses, this is truly going to be the death of him.

But Zhu Gaoxu does not care about any of this.

Since Hu Weiyong dared to gamble, he must be prepared to take it.

Not to mention anything else, if he were to lose, those ten thousand new recruits outside the city would be completely handed over to someone else.

There is no such thing as a free lunch in the sky; since he dared to gamble so big, Hu Weiyong's stake could not possibly be small.

Hu Weiyong also understands this principle, but he did not expect Zhu Gaoxu to be so ruthless, immediately swindling him out of two thousand warhorses.

Seeing Hu Weiyong frowning and saying nothing, Zhu Gaoxu said with a hint of mockery: "No way, no way, Prime Minister Hu is the head of all officials, you aren't planning to welch on the bet, are you?"

Even if Hu Weiyong had the intention to welch, being provoked by Zhu Gaoxu like this, he could not say it out loud.

Thinking this, Hu Weiyong said with a dark face: "The Nanyang Commandery Prince is joking; I will naturally have them sent to the Prince in a few days."

After speaking, Hu Weiyong flicked his sleeves, stopped talking to Zhu Gaoxu, and walked directly past Zhu Gaoxu to leave.

Zhu Gaoxu watched Hu Weiyong's exasperated back, sneered, and then also strode away.

Once out of the palace, Zhu Gaoxu took Ada and the others toward Xianniangfang.

Arriving at Xianniangfang, he saw the main gate tightly shut; Zhu Gaoxu was not surprised, as it had not officially opened for business yet, and there was no point in keeping the doors open.

Giving a look, Ada nodded and stepped forward to knock on the door.

"Coming, coming."

Before long, Li Quan's voice came from inside.

As Li Quan opened the door and saw Zhu Gaoxu, he hurriedly bowed.

"Forget it, let's go inside first."

Zhu Gaoxu raised his hand to signal that Li Quan need not stand on ceremony, then led the group inside.

Just as he entered, before even reaching the backyard, Zhu Gaoxu smelled a rich aroma of wine.

Walking quickly into the backyard, Zhu Gaoxu saw that the entire East Wing Room was already filled with wine vats, taking up half the room.

He nodded and reached out his right hand; Li Quan, very observant, handed over a chopstick.

Opening a wine vat, Zhu Gaoxu dipped the chopstick into the wine and nodded with satisfaction.

The wine he tasted this time clearly had a higher alcohol content than the last batch; it was evident that Li Quan had followed his instructions and separated the wine distilled from the first half and the second half.

Looking at the current stock of wine, Zhu Gaoxu nodded with satisfaction and immediately said to Li Quan: "Send someone to move five vats of wine to the Wangfu later; I want the best head-cut."

Li Quan nodded, indicating he had noted it down.

Afterward, Zhu Gaoxu went to check the distillation equipment for brewing; seeing that the servants were already using it proficiently, Zhu Gaoxu nodded and left Xianniangfang.

This time, Zhu Gaoxu did not wander around Jingcheng anymore and returned directly to the Military Camp.

Just as he arrived at the Military Camp and before he could even rest for a moment, a scholar dressed in Confucian attire found Zhu Gaoxu.

"Little Prince, Mr. Song has been waiting for a long time; if you are free, please go over."

Hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu remembered that he still had a teacher.

Rubbing his aching head, Zhu Gaoxu nodded helplessly and followed the scholar.

Song Lian's living quarters were similar to Zhu Gaoxu's, but Lao Zhu was clearly more attentive to Song Lian.

Not only did he send two eunuchs to serve him specifically, but he also had people move over quite a bit of furniture used exclusively in the palace.

Arriving at Song Lian's large tent, the outside had been converted by Song Lian into a place for teaching, and there was a curtain blocking the inside, which was presumably Song Lian's bedroom.

At this time, Song Lian was already sitting in the middle, facing a small table and a small stool.

Zhu Gaoxu first respectfully bowed to Song Lian.

Then, he consciously sat down on the small stool.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu so well-behaved, Song Lian nodded, and without delay, he began today's formal lesson.

"Today, I will lecture on arithmetic. As the saying goes, arithmetic opens the mind; today, let us discuss the 'chickens and rabbits in the same cage' problem."

As soon as Zhu Gaoxu sat down and heard "chickens and rabbits in the same cage," he almost yawned.

For some reason, whenever Zhu Gaoxu sat at this desk, he could not help but feel his eyelids fighting each other.

Just as Zhu Gaoxu was about to fall asleep, he suddenly thought of something, and with a flash of wit, he said: "Teacher, this method of 'chickens and rabbits in the same cage' is too simple. If the student knows how to calculate it, can I be excused from today's lesson?"

Song Lian, who was just about to pose the problem, was startled by Zhu Gaoxu's words.

Even for him, it had taken many years to understand the mysteries of the "chickens and rabbits in the same cage" problem.

Although Song Lian knew his new student was clever, he did not believe Zhu Gaoxu was truly that miraculous.

Thinking of this, Song Lian chuckled and said: "Very well, then I shall pose a few questions. If the Prince answers correctly, there will be no more lessons today; if the Prince answers incorrectly, then you must honestly listen to me lecture for two hours."

Song Lian also wanted to use this opportunity to temper his new student's arrogance.

Jade is good jade, but jade cannot be made into a vessel without carving; he must be disciplined well.

Zhu Gaoxu, however, was not worried at all, and seeing that Song Lian had agreed, he immediately said: "Then Teacher, please pose the questions!"